May 12, 2011 | Landscape Photography
When it comes to God beams, I don’t know of any location that produces them more consistently at sunrise then the Black Hills & Badlands in SD. This morning was no exception. There are two major challenges in my mind when taking good God beam photographs, exposure and foreground. Without control on those two key elements, all you have IMHO is mud.
These days, the exposure is pretty darn simple. Yeap, HDR and these are 5 image captures, shot handheld on the fly. HDR makes it pretty simple to capture the large exposure range with the subtleties in between. While Photomatixs did the heavy lifting in the finishing, the true finishing was done in PS. It makes all the difference in the world! But while I have the exposure, I don’t have the foreground so these images are just OK at best in my book. Better can be made. Knowing the Black Hills, I knew exactly where I wanted to speed to get the right foreground. Stay Tuned…..
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 28, 2011 | Landscape Photography
And after a couple of hours, I was mentally spent! There is only so much I can do and then my mind says no more when it comes to finding subjects in the macro world. I know better then to keep pushing myself because that’s when the delete button becomes your best friend. So I went outside, sat down and watched the light change. That’s when I saw these really simple clicks.
I’m probably funny in that way, but I just don’t see going nuts for a photo when it’s going to suck. Oh yeah, I can take suckie photographs with the best of them but I really try to avoid it. I realized long ago that my suckie images come from pushing the photograph, this kind of guilt that since I’m out and have a camera in my hand I should be shooting when, there really is nothing showing me any love at that moment. When this happens, I’ve found that if I just sit down, watch life go by for fifteen or twenty minutes that the mind will clear out, the light changes enough for new treasures to be found and creativity comes back to my mind. I have a large collection of window photos. I have no freakin clue what I will ever do with them all, I rarely is ever share them so I thought I would this time just because.
Photo captured by D3x, 105VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 28, 2011 | Landscape Photography
With the 105VR in hand, I pushed myself to find more details, macro shots that I could make that I actually liked. I hate shooting because I feel I should be because I know there is something in front of me even though I can’t find it. It’s was a called a “forced” photo, which is a nice way of saying it sucks! So I went into moth mode, seeking light!
I always go into the print shop since as a kid, I worked in one and really enjoyed the process. I’m not so old I set type but I sure did learn about it which is what you’re seeing in these top two photos. Drawers where the type was stored, one letter at a time. With the 105VR, I focused in on patterns, color, and texture and made a couple of clicks that I really like. I’m still hand holding, using the same settings but this time, I’m holding the lens up to the plexiglass keeping honest folks honest.
Wondering into the next building I came to this wall of old radios. I looked at them for a moment, they were lit with plane old exhibit lighting. Then I saw this one radio face and noticed the grain in the wood so walked over and took a closer look. The radio dial have Havana, Mexico City, all sorts of places that I wouldn’t think you’d tune your radio into, especially back when this thing was in use.
And then into the doctors office I went where there are a TON of photographs to be made. I was intrigued with all the bottles on the glass shelf in the windows and started to look for one that might not be light directly by the sun. I found this one and was delighted with the play of light wrapping around the bottles. I was shooting with the 105micro still so I took my time to line up the lines and compose what you see to include everything else all around the bottles. This is really not my kind of photography but by this point was feeling pretty good about my efforts so took the time to make the shot. Not bad for a guy is sucks at macros!
Photos captured by D3x, 105VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 28, 2011 | Landscape Photography
I think these pieces of our past are just fascinating subjects. The sun was bouncing off the naked wood just in front of it bouncing in some nice light so I walked over to make a click. I put the camera to my eye and for the next ten minutes cussed and sweared as I tried to find one, single, bloody, solitary plum line! I turned the camera this way and that, click, click, click, cuss, cuss, cuss, click, click. I tried every way I could think, I ever went so far as to Free Transform trying to make it look “right” but as you can see, no such luck. Of course, that’s part of its character and charm, but I like at least one line to look right in a photo!
Photo captured by D3x, 105VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 28, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Laws Railroad Museum is just this ever growing playground for the camera! We’ve been going there for at least twenty years and the contents and light are never the same making it just a trick or treat adventure every time you visit. This time I was so pleased with myself because I not only remembered to pack the 105micro, I remembered that I packed it just to shoot at Laws. You have to understand, I’ve forgotten every time up till now and I am so glad I remembered! I treasure the smallest of mental victories.
The whole trick to Laws, or any location for that matter, is to go slow and have your eyes wide open. I walked into the second building and noticed that both large barn doors were open. This threw in big, soft light so all I had to do was find a subject for that gorgeous light. A couple of steps in on the right was this saddle. Its age and colors along with the light sucked me in and it didn’t let me go! I mean really, just look at that light!
When you have this kind of light, you gotta just keep working it and working it. I started “wide” and then worked on in to cover all I could of this one saddle. There was another one next to it that was in nicer light but was in sad shape so I stuck with this one. Most photographers do two mistakes I feel when they are at Laws, they us a tripod and blow off way too much. I spent probably twenty minutes at least working this saddle. I shot handheld so I could get the angle and framing exactly as I wanted while waiting for other visitors to come and go. I shot at ISO 100 (I’m always in the basement), 1/15 f/8, AWB, Vivid EV-2. Why was the 105micro so important? It gave the needed working distance, subject isolation and bloody sharp results that make detail macros succeed. I was so pleased that I remembered it and that I found for me, some cool subject. Keep in mind, macro is outside my comfort zone but as long as I find light, I can work through that discomfort.
Photos captured by D3x, 105VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 27, 2011 | Landscape Photography
One of the great fun things I like to do at the Alabama Hills is looking for shots for the 16Fish. This will sound really bad, but I look for balls most of the time. Here’s a new one I found this morning (I usually find only 1 new 1 per trip). To make it work, you of course first need a fisheye lens. Then you need to find a rock that is partially lit. If fully lit then you have a flat wall, not a round ball. You must have some shading on the side to give the illusion of roundness. Lastly you have to have a great background. To make this shot, I had my butt in the air as I kissed the dirt to get the angle to make the shot. I tilted the lens back to capture the white wisps of clouds you see in the top, right corner which to me, make the whole shot.
And this is the “ball” rock from the side. Looks nothing like the finished photo, does it?
The other thing I look for with the Fish in the Hills are the vast landscapes where the curve of the Fish isn’t a major distraction. I’m not as lucky with this venture as finding balls. That’s probably in part because in my mind, I don’t have a formula to make the shot. When I see certain things like clouds and light, my mind tends to grab hold of those elements and then search for the rest of the elements I like to assemble in certain type of photographs. I don’t have that yet for this type of photo, darn it!
I was quite pleased when I found this one though. This is not only a good example of how I like to use the Fish in the Hills but also how Structure in Silver Efex Pro 2 effects clouds. Look at the color image and then the B&W. See how Structure gives the clouds, structure? I can understand photographers in the process of learning wanting a recipe to follow for images they like and want to duplicate. The problem is, there can be no recipe when you have such huge variables like light and clouds. And these are just two of the hundreds of variables that confront photographers. Once again I hope my images have done their job and invited you in. Even more, I hope they have grabbed your imagination and make you want to come to these amazing hills at the foot of Mt Whitney. There are not only great photos in your future if you do, but a lot of learning that will propel your photography forward!
Photos captured by D3x, 16Fish on Lexar UDMA digital film
